Tennis-Murray wins battle of Britons to reach Beijing quarters

Andy Murray extended his winning run in Beijing after beating fellow Briton Cameron Norrie 7-6(6) 6-7(4) 6-1 to seal a spot in the quarter-finals of the China Open on Wednesday. Murray, who won his first ATP tour singles encounter in nine months at Zhuhai last week, was made to fight for two hours and 52 minutes and won consecutive tour matches for the first time since his hip resurfacing surgery in January.

The Scot had beaten eighth-seeded Italian Matteo Berrettini 7-6(2) 7-6(7) in the first round on Tuesday. "I'm really tired, I just had a sleep before coming," Murray said. "That's the first time I've had to do that since I came back. It's something that I need to kind of get used to again, especially playing at this level and that intensity.

"It was a good step for me, it's great that I won the match. Whether I'd won or lost it, I was able to come out... and be competitive and play some good tennis... I'm happy I've got the day off tomorrow to recover." Norrie served poorly compared to the former world number one but 32-year-old Murray only managed to convert four of 13 breakpoints in the match.

Serving for the opening set at 5-3, Murray was broken by Norrie, who then saved three set points in the ensuing tiebreak before he double-faulted on Scot's fourth set point. Norrie turned the tables in the second and, although Murray saved a set point on serve, the 24-year-old ranked 69 in the world then held his nerve in the tiebreak.

Murray then switched tactics, coming up to the net more often to dictate rallies and shorten points, and won the first five games in a row to progress to the next round. Italy's Fabio Fognini beat Russian Andrey Rublev 6-3 6-4 to set up a quarter-final clash with fourth seed Karen Khachanov, who dispatched Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 7-6(0) 7-6(5).

Top seed Dominic Thiem plays China's Zhang Zhizhen later on Wednesday, with the winner facing Murray.

Also Read: Andy Murray battles into China Open last eight

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